Temporary Resources Research Articles

Phenological mismatch affects individual fitness and population growth in the winter moth.

Climate change can severely impact species that depend on temporary resources by inducing phenological mismatches between consumer and resource seasonal timing. In the winter moth, warmer winters caused eggs to hatch before their food source, young oak leaves, became available. This phenological mismatch changed the selection on the temperature sensitivity of egg development rate. However, we know little about the fine-scale fitness consequences of phenological mismatch at the individual level and how this mismatch affects population dynamics in the winter moth. To determine the fitness consequences of mistimed egg hatching relative to timing of oak budburst, we quantified survival and pupation weight in a feeding experiment. We found that mismatch greatly increased mortality rates of freshly hatched caterpillars, as well as affecting caterpillar growth and development time. We then investigated whether these individual fitness consequences have population-level impacts by estimating the effect of phenological mismatch on population dynamics, using our long-term data (1994-2021) on relative winter moth population densities at four locations in The Netherlands. We found a significant effect of mismatch on population density with higher population growth rates in years with a smaller phenological mismatch. Our results indicate that climate change-induced phenological mismatch can incur severe individual fitness consequences that can impact population density in the wild.

The Problem of Effective Evacuation of the Population from Floodplains under Threat of Flooding: Algorithmic and Software Support with Shortage of Resources

Extreme flooding of the floodplains of large lowland rivers poses a danger to the population due to the vastness of the flooded areas. This requires the organization of safe evacuation in conditions of a shortage of temporary and transport resources due to significant differences in the moments of flooding of different spatial parts. We consider the case of a shortage of evacuation vehicles, in which the safe evacuation of the entire population to permanent evacuation points is impossible. Therefore, the evacuation is divided into two stages with the organization of temporary evacuation points on evacuation routes. Our goal is to develop a method for analyzing the minimum resource requirement for the safe evacuation of the population of floodplain territories based on a mathematical model of flood dynamics and minimizing the number of vehicles on a set of safe evacuation schedules. The core of the approach is a numerical hydrodynamic model in shallow water approximation. Modeling the hydrological regime of a real water body requires a multi-layer geoinformation model of the territory with layers of relief, channel structure, and social infrastructure. High-performance computing is performed on GPUs using CUDA. The optimization problem is a variant of the resource investment problem of scheduling theory with deadlines for completing work and is solved on the basis of a heuristic algorithm. We use the results of numerical simulation of floods for the Northern part of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain to plot the dependence of the minimum number of vehicles that ensure the safe evacuation of the population. The minimum transport resources depend on the water discharge in the Volga river, the start of the evacuation, and the localization of temporary evacuation points. The developed algorithm constructs a set of safe evacuation schedules for the minimum allowable number of vehicles in various flood scenarios. The population evacuation schedules constructed for the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain can be used in practice for various vast river valleys.

Connecting Future Environmental Trends and Assessments of Fish and Wildlife Resources of Concern: A Case Study of Big Pine Key, Florida

Changes in hydrologic and climatic trends will influence the ecology of Florida, and climate scenarios agree that many areas of Florida are susceptible to sea-level rise impacts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Climate Change Action Program focuses on a framework to examine climate change effects on fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats of all three. To follow the program, this study examines how to incorporate current scientific knowledge about regional climate projections in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service analyses. It provides climate change and sea-level rise projections based on 2017 projections, information on changes in tropical cyclones, temperatures, and precipitation. This study also examines future effects of sea-level rise on existing habitat from saltwater intrusion of the freshwater lens below Big Pine Key. Projections of future sea-water elevations will periodically be reached or exceeded well before 2040 from short-term, stochastic, and extreme events (e.g., king tides and storm surge), and will increasingly inundate the root zone before complete saltwater intrusion. Future trends were connected to 2017 stakeholder-driven conversations about adaptation strategies to develop a suite of actions for creating temporary or permanent freshwater resources. However, beyond 3 ft (0.9 m) of sea-level rise, there are few adaptation options available for the Florida Key deer beyond relocations outside of the Florida Keys. Overall, the approach of connecting future environmental trends to assessments of fish and wildlife resources of concern can be transferred to other situations. Additionally, this approach can be used to update these analyses, such as with the recent 2022 sea-level rise updates by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, released after this work was conducted.

Guidance For The Investment Of Temporary Resources To Generate Income To Contribute To PRG, PRG-HIPC, And CCR Trusts Assets

"Volume 2022 (2022): Issue 049 (Nov 2022): Guidance For The Investment Of Temporary Resources To Generate Income To Contribute To PRG, PRG-HIPC, And CCR Trusts Assets" published on 07 Nov 2022 by International Monetary Fund.

Timing and synchrony of migration in a freshwater fish: Consequences for survival.

Animal migration is one of the most spectacular and visible behavioural phenomena in nature with profound implications for a range of ecological and evolutionary processes. Successful migration hinges on the ability to exploit temporary resources (e.g. food) and evade threats (e.g. predators) as they arise, and thus the timing of migration is often regarded as a dominant predictor of individual migratory success. However, with the exception of intensively studied taxa (mainly birds), relatively few studies have investigated inter-individual annual and seasonal variation in migratory timing and performance, or tested predictions on how migration across high and low predation-risk habitats may exert selection on migratory timing. In particular, studies that assess the survival consequences of variation in migratory timing remain rare, which is most likely due to the logistical challenges associated with monitoring survival success and population-level characteristics simultaneously. Here, we address the above-mentioned questions using roach Rutilus rutilus, a fish that migrates from lakes characterised by high predation risk into low-risk streams during winter. Specifically, we used individual-based tracking of roach in two European lake systems over multiple migration periods (9 and 7 years respectively), to obtain highly detailed (year-round scheduling, repeat journeys and the fate of individuals) data on the variability/synchrony of migratory timing in spring and autumn respectively. We report seasonal differences in the variability of migratory timing, with lower variance and higher migration synchrony in spring lake arrival timing as compared to autumn lake departure timing. Furthermore, the timing of autumn migration is more variable across years than the timing of spring migration. Second, we find that later arrival to the lake habitat is positively associated with apparent survival from 1 year to the next, whereas we found no effect of lake departure timing on survival probability. These findings represent rare evidence showing how intraspecific variation in timing in migratory fish differs across years and seasons, and how variation in timing can translate into survival consequences for prey in systems characterised by high predation risk.

How university internships benefit microbusiness owners: Beyond anticipated value

Microbusiness owners face significant challenges in accessing, acquiring and controlling resources, including human resources. This research examines the resource value(s) gained by microbusiness owners when they engage in a temporary human resourcing strategy using interns. Qualitative, information-rich, narrative interviews with microbusiness owners examined resourcing motives, management experiences and perceptions of human resource value. The data were subject to thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the unforeseen value of working with an intern was learning “management by doing” , which arose due to a challenging of owner–intern dynamics, compelling owners to develop their skills, knowledge and practice of management and leadership. Second, microbusiness owners were strategically motivated to fill human resource skill and expertise gaps at little or no cost, gaining expected value. Thus, temporary human resources enable microbusiness owners to gain both expected and unforeseen value. Future research should focus on examining the value of unforeseen learning from low/no cost resources on microbusiness growth and sustainable development potential.

Availability of specialized medical care in cases of severe head injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The pandemic of COVID-19 caused an overload of national health care systems worldwide. The analyses of the ways the pandemic changed the availability of the medical care provided in emergency situations has been carried out based on cases of craniocerebral trauma treatment.Material and methods: Data for the period of 2019–2020 on each of 85 territorial subjects of the Russian Federation which are contained in forms of the state statistical observation and also data of Federal State Statistics Service on number of the deceased from head injuries (bone fractures of skull and face) in the period of 2019–2020 have been analyzed. For the measurement of medical care availability level we used the ratio of number of hospitalizations to the total number of deaths due to head injury in territorial subjects of the Russian Federation before COVID-19 pandemic (in 2019) and during the pandemic in 2020. The higher the ratio of admissions in the round-the-clock hospitals to total number of lethal cases due to head trauma, the higher the availability of the specialized emergency medical care. At the same time, we recognize that if the person with a severe head injury is brought to the hospital alive the chances to save his life increase.Results: In 2019 approximately half of the patients with cases of head injuries were admitted in the round-the-clock hospital (the ratio is 274.6 thousand cases of hospitalization to 566.6 thousand cases of the head injury – 48.5% of the total number of head injury cases). In 2020 the share of such cases decreased to 43.1% – 207.5 thousand cases of hospitalization to 481.3 thousand cases of head injury in a year total. On an average in territorial subjects of the Russian Federation the ratio coefficient of hospitalizations number to the total number of lethal outcomes due to head injury in 2019 was 11.6 ± 4.3, in 2020 – 8.8 ± 3.3. Feature variation coefficient is 37.5% and 37.6% in 2019 and 2020 respectively which demonstrates its high variability in territorial subjects of the Russian Federation. A share of the lethal outcomes due to a head injury increased from 3.8% in 2019 to 4.5% in 2020 of total number of patients that received this type of trauma, or by 1.2 times.Conclusion: Due to the decrease of the emergency specialized medical care availability because of the pandemic the excess mortality from severe head injuries in 2020 was not less than 3 thousand people or 15% of the total number of cases of death. Hospital repurposing, redistribution of temporary and physical healthcare resources during the pandemic shouldn’t be followed by the decrease of medical care in emergency cases. The relation indicator of the number of admissions in the round-the-clock hospitals of patients with severe injuries or diseases to total number of lethal outcomes due to the same reasons is the indicator showing the availability level of medical care that can’t be delayed.

Modernization of Education During the Pandemic Conditions for Effective Education on a Distance Basis

The high demands of the new era and society's changing attitude towards a specialist determine the need to create more effective learning conditions that contribute to the most rational use of psychological, physical, and temporary resources of an individual. In this regard, in the context of modernization of education and its integration into the world educational space, the problem of professional training and advanced training of a person acquires particular relevance. The article examines the development of modern society in the conditions of globalization processes’ influence, determining the emergence of new demands for a subject in any activity field, in particular, in higher education. Furthermore, the pandemic led to enhancing the application of distance learning technologies. In the future, their implementation experience should become the basis for the development of innovative teaching methods, increasing the efficiency of the educational process, and improving information and resource support.

Temporality, temporariness and keystone actor capabilities in innovation ecosystems

The last years have witnessed a growing scholarly interest in innovation ecosystems, including how keystone actors establish and orchestrate collaborative innovation. In parallel, temporary collaborative innovation efforts are becoming increasingly important to address societal problems. Temporary structures are also used to create a sense of urgency to prompt change. Thus, innovation ecosystems often incorporate temporary structures. However, while keystone actor capabilities to orchestrate an ecosystem over its lifecycle have been studied, the needs for capabilities to coordinate multiple parallel processes with different temporal logics have not been addressed. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on innovation ecosystems in industrial marketing research by examining the challenges and opportunities associated with temporary structures in an innovation ecosystem. Furthermore, we theorize on the implications for the keystone actor orchestration capabilities. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of a construction project that was used by a keystone actor to gain momentum in its innovation work. Fourteen innovation projects, each involving external partners, were connected to the construction project. We conclude that temporary structures are powerful to enhance innovation, but that preparation is essential to enable the seizing of opportunities in a collaborative and transitory context. Specific orchestration capabilities relate to integrating a linear, time-bound logic with an iterative innovation logic, and to matching ambitions in at the temporary systems with capabilities at the level of the permanent organizations. An important aspect is to find a balance between temporary external resources and long-term internal resources.

Project format in didactic planning of lessons

Abstract. We consider the issue of didactic planning of lessons using project method. The researched issue is relevant due to the increasing need of lecturers for information about the results of training specialists to implement project activities in their professional field. The purpose of the research is to describe the stages of didactic planning of lessons at the university in a project format: target, operational and control and reflexive. The target stage is considered with implementation of the SMART methodology, according to which the goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. The implementation of the SMART method is revealed on a concrete example of teaching students in a certain period of time using the “Goal Tree” technique. At the operational stage the lecturer form the theoretical content of the discipline, select types and structure of lessons, pedagogical technologies. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the resource base, including educational, technical, personal and temporary resources. It is necessary to develop a risk matrix in didactic planning, which is a set of possible “unplanned” situations, as well as alternatives to their resolution. It is proved that the substantive part of didactic planning regarding the project method must be subordinated to its rule regarding the totality of the values of the elements. At the control and reflexive stage, there is a generalization of all the material covered, an assessment of competence formation level, of goal achievement level, as well as mandatory reflection, both of the teacher and the student. The materials of the research can be useful in planning training sessions at a university, taking into account the project format.

Fault-Tolerant Mechanism for Edge-Based IoT Networks With Demand Uncertainty

Due to ubiquitous increase of mobile services and powerful Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, the interest for mobile-edge computing (MEC) solutions has grown both in industry and academia. One of the fundamental mechanisms of MEC is offloading, i.e., delegation of a computation from the user to a server (set) placed near to the edge. Edge servers may have poor incentives to run a delegated service, for example, for the temporary limited resources. In this article, we dissect the incentive mechanisms within a MEC ecosystem with the aim of ensuring a fault-tolerant edge service under unreliable scenarios. In particular, we design an auction mechanism to model the interaction between the MEC players, and model the edge users’ probability of successful offloading, assuming that the cost of executing each offloading request is private. Scrutinizing the demand uncertainty of edge users, the main motive of our auction method is to optimize the offloading cost to engage more edge users in this process, while imposing probabilistic guarantees of offloading service execution. Our offloading cost minimization problem is considered to be an NP-hard. For the solution, we use a heuristic methodology to get the optimal approximation ratio and provide economical fairness. We provide exhaustive simulation results to show the excellent performance of our scheme.

‘Bottom-up governance’: discourse, practices and the duality of the state

ABSTRACT This paper uses a case study of an Israeli teacher leadership initiative to explore a mode of educational governance that employs ‘bottom-up’ logic and discourse. The authors analyse the origins of this initiative, and – through a policy-making ethnography of the initiative’s enactment at the district level – show how it is sustained and governed through ‘top-down’ structures and strategies. The authors use the term ‘bottom-up governance’ to describe a hybrid mixture of discourse that valorises grass-roots leadership, of governance through actors’ autonomy and reflexivity, of enactment by a complex array of external and internal educational actors, and of initiation and control by central government, which provides insufficient, temporary and unstable resources. Their analysis highlights the conflicted and complex role of mid-level policy-makers in this mode of governance, as well as the simultaneous pursuit by the Israeli education system of centralisation and decentralisation, and ‘weak state’ and ‘strong state’ strategies.

Global patterns of functional trait variation along aridity gradients in bats

AbstractAimOur understanding of the biological strategies employed by species to cope with challenges posed by aridity is still limited. Despite being sensitive to water loss, bats successfully inhabit a wide range of arid lands. We here investigated how functional traits of bat assemblages vary along the global aridity gradient to identify traits that favour their persistence in arid environments.LocationGlobal.Time periodContemporary.Major taxa studiedBats.MethodsWe mapped the assemblage‐level averages of four key bat traits describing wing morphology, echolocation and body size, based on a grid of 100‐km resolution and a pool of 915 bat species, and modelled them against aridity values. To support our results, we conducted analyses also at the species level to control for phylogenetic autocorrelation.ResultsAt the assemblage level, we detected a rise in values of aspect ratio, wing loading and forearm length, and a decrease in echolocation frequency with increasing aridity. These patterns were consistent with trends detected at the species level for all traits.Main conclusionsOur findings show that trait variation in bats is associated with the aridity gradient and suggest that greater mobility and larger body size are advantageous features in arid environments. Greater mobility favours bats’ ability to track patchy and temporary resources, while the reduced surface‐to‐volume ratio associated with a larger body size is likely to reduce water stress by limiting cutaneous evaporation. These findings highlight the importance of extending attention from species‐specific adaptations to broad scale and multispecies variation in traits when investigating the ability of species to withstand arid conditions.

Transformation of Household Credit Behavior in the Conditions of Digitalization of the Financial Services Market

Within the article, the impact of modern digitalization processes on changing household credit behavior is considered. Much attention is paid to defining the essence of digitalization and exploring the features of its impact on the financial services market. Accordingly, the content of household credit behavior and its individual models are examined. This behavior is proposed to be considered as a process of interaction between entities engaged in joint business activities with financial institutions regarding the receipt of temporary financial resources from banking and non-banking institutions with subsequent use to meet their own needs on terms of return, payment, expediency and security. Within the article, basic features that are inherent in both the classic model of obtaining credit services by clients of financial institutions and the new model of lending, which is formed today as a result of the impact of digitalization processes, are defined and systematized. Study of the results of the analysis of current trends in the development of the financial services market made it possible to identify main perspective directions for further transformation of credit household behavior, the process of lending and changing the paradigm of lending to financial institutions.

Methodology for iterative system modeling in agile product development

Nowadays, manufacturing companies are challenged by dynamic market environments caused by increasing globalization, digitization and climate change. Therefore, the ability to act with speed, flexibility and efficiency in product development becomes inevitable for success. Moreover, various stakeholder requirements have to be considered and time to market has to be reduced. The development of complex mechatronic systems also requires an interdisciplinary cooperation of various engineering domains, i.e. mechanics, electrical engineering and computer science.Agile product development addresses these challenges with its focus on the iterative development of functional system increments. As a result, it enables to reduce time to market and improves handling of changing customer requirements. The model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach with its centralized system model serves as a single source of truth and data repository. Thereby, it enhances efficiency and transparency along the product development process. The integration of MBSE into agile product development offers numerous opportunities, such as virtual prototypes and the build-up of a product’s digital twin. As the design of a complete system model at the beginning of a development process requires high temporary resources, an iterative approach should be applied to incrementally build the system model along the product development process.In this paper a methodology for the iterative system modeling in agile product development is presented. In each agile sprint, design parameters based on a development question are elaborated. The information that supports answering the development questions is provided by the system model. Since the system model itself can only provide but not process information it is necessary to select the best toolset to process the necessary information. By transferring the information back to the system model, the elements of the system model itself are iteratively developed and updated.

РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ ПРИНЦИПОВ ПРЕЕМСТВЕННОСТИ И ПОСЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬНОСТИ ПРИ ПРЕПОДАВАНИИ ОБЩЕЙ ХИМИИ И НОРМАЛЬНОЙ ФИЗИОЛОГИИ В МЕДИЦИНСКОМ ВУЗЕ

In the article, we discuss the principles of consistency and continuity implemented in the education of general medicine and normal physiology at the medical university. We give several taught topics and questions to allow the application of these pedagogical principles: solutions, the role of various ions in physiological functions, buffer systems, and their role in regulating the acid-base balance of the body and many others. We reviewed possible forms of interdisciplinary interaction: coordination of work programs and curricula within the framework of joint departments and methodological councils, writing of interdisciplinary textbooks, reading of interdisciplinary problem lectures, holding joint meetings of student scientific societies devoted to current scientific problems. We believe that multidisciplinary interaction will allow us to eliminate to eliminate unreasonable duplication in teaching, free up additional temporary resources, and increase the effectiveness of the educational process in general.

Methodological Proposal to Develop Adaptive Thermal Comfort Studies Under Lab Controlled Conditions

Thermal comfort studies developed with the adaptive approach are cross-sectional and are carried out at different periods, which make them prolonged and dependent on the current weather conditions. Meanwhile, studies under lab controlled conditions have the advantage of simulating in one single day the hygrothermal and wind conditions of a period, and manipulating them with accuracy periodically in compliance with real climatic. Thus, this paper presents a methodological proposal to develop adaptive thermal comfort studies under lab controlled conditions. The methodology is divided into three stages and fourteen activities that detail the methodological procedure to be applied before, during and after each laboratory test. It is proposed as a generic resource adaptable and reproducible to any case study, so it focuses on providing the key elements for an accurate and effective study; the particularities are defined by the objectives of each study case that adopts this methodology. The experimental procedure allows estimating the results that could be obtained from adaptive approach, since the thermal values obtained with both approaches are close to each other. Some advantages of this methodological proposal are: experimental replica; optimization of material, human, technological, temporary and economic resources; methodological reconciliation of the adaptive and predictive approaches; and the adaptive thermal comfort estimation without the influence of outside environmental.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE POSSIBILITY TO SINGLE OUT THE MODE OF SINGLE-PHASE CLOSURE TO THE GROUND IN THE CIRCUIT 6– 10 kV BY THE INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM OF ELECTRICITY METERING

The problem of increasing the reliability of electricity supply is relevant at the current stage of electric power systems development both in the territory of the Russian Federation and in foreign electric power systems. One of the ways to improve the reliability of electricity supply is to prevent the development of emergency situations on overhead power transmission lines as the most important components of electric power systems, which is confirmed by a substantial number of annual domestic and foreign publications. Preventing the development of emergency situations is largely facilitated by early detecting the signs of emergency modes onset in the functioning of all voltage classes’ electric networks. At the same time, the development of intelligence systems for technical and commercial electricity metering opens up new opportunities for monitoring numerous parameters of different operational modes of electrical networks, including those of 6-10-35 kV voltage with isolated neutral operation mode. Numerous works of author’s teams are devoted to the theoretical analysis of the possibility to early detect the diagnostic signs of emergency signals. However, existing publications do not always present the results of field experimental studies in existing electrical networks on the subject under consideration, which demonstrates some discrepancy between theoretical provisions and the possibility of their practical implementation. The present article attempts to assess the possibility of practical implementing the part of theoretical provisions on early detection of diagnostic signs for emergency regimes and, as a result, increase reliability of electricity supply. At the same time, the article presents the results of the field study the basis of which were used to open up current possibilities of early detecting the diagnostic signs of emergency regimes on the example of individual singling out higher harmonic components of currents and voltages, including when using already existing intelligence electricity metering systems installed in the existing electrical distribution systems with the voltage of 10 kV. At the same time, the article demonstrates implementability and further development of online monitoring of emergency modes in electric networks functioning on the example of identifying a single-phase ground fault, which makes it possible to significantly reduce the costs of temporary and material resources when localizing the single-phase closure zone.

Augmented Reality in Logistics: qualitative analysis for a managerial perspective

Immersive technologies, namely virtual and augmented reality, are witnessing a growth in popularity, especially in creative fields, like videogames and film businesses. These technologies can also be effectively applied in other industrial sectors and their use can foster value creation and enhance efficiency and effectiveness, in a managerial perspective. The applications of augmented reality are analysed within the industrial field of logistics, according to three directives: training, operations and transport. A qualitative analysis is carried on to identify potential uses in this (and related) fields and a managerial perspective are proposed, identifying specific KPIs and heuristics for the three aforementioned areas. Results from the literature, field analysis and classification through KPIs point to effective utilisations of AR in logistics, both for training new (and often temporary) resources and in specific and core operations, like picking in warehouses and transport of goods.

Patient barriers to cancer clinical trial participation and navigator activities to assist.

Clinical research is vital to the discovery of new cancer treatments that can enhance health and prolong life for cancer patients, but breakthroughs in cancer treatment are limited by challenges recruiting patients into cancer clinical trials (CT). Only 3-5% of cancer patients in the United States participate in a cancer CT and there are disparities in CT participation by age, race and gender. Strategies such as patient navigation, which is designed to provide patients with education and practical support, may help to overcome challenges of CT recruitment. The current study evaluated an intervention in which lay navigators were utilized to provide patient education and practical support for helping patients overcome barriers to CT participation and related clinical care. A patient barrier checklist was utilized to record patient barriers to CT participation and care, actions taken by navigators to assist patients with these barriers, and whether or not these barriers could be overcome. Forty patients received patient navigation services. The most common barriers faced by navigated patients were fear (n=9), issues communicating with medical personnel (n=9), insurance issues (n=8), transportation difficulties (n=6) and perceptions about providers and treatment (n=4). The most common activities undertaken by navigators were making referrals and contacts on behalf of patients (e.g., support services, family, clinicians; n=25). Navigators also made arrangement for transportation, financial, medication and equipment services for patients (n=11) and proactively navigated patients (n=8). Barriers that were not overcome for two or more patients included insurance issues, lack of temporary housing resources for patients in treatment and assistance with household bills. The wide array of patient barriers to CT participation and navigator assistance documented in this study supports the CT navigator role in facilitating quality care.